Missing You
by MattJ8
Summary: This will start off immediately following Yugi's duel with Yami Bakura aboard Kaiba Craft 3, during the Battle City Arc. There will be slashy/yaoi (probably just fluff, as is my modus operandi), tendershipping and thiefshipping (though I'm not sure what pairings I'm actually doing anymore). Suggestions/Ideas are welcome. Rated M for violence/dark themes and stuff :O
1. Chapter 1

**MISSING YOU**

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_Overview/Disclaimer: This will start off immediately following Yugi's duel with Yami Bakura aboard Kaiba Craft 3, during the Battle City Arc. There will be slashy/yaoi (probably just fluff, as is my modus operandi), tendershipping (yami bakura x bakura/ryou) and thiefshipping (yami bakura x marik). And just like in my other fanfics, suggestions and ideas for the story pertaining to anything from a character's personality to potentially pairings are always welcome. _

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**Chapter One**

Ryou sat up from his bed, uncomfortably. Coughing and moaning as he struggled to sit up and stay in that position, he shook his head in disbelief.

"The spirit has," he grimaced in pain, "the spirit, he's never done something like this before… I've, I've never felt… So, ugh-"

Yugi and the others were huddled around the boy's bed aboard Seto's airship, motioning for him to remain still.

"Ryou, don't move," Yugi said.

"Yeah," Téa started, "you were really hurt."

"I, ah-" Ryou winced as he lost his strength to support himself and fell back onto his pillow, clutching his once more bleeding arm. "I don't understand." He gasped.

The room was silent as the groups' collective gaze shifted to Yugi, the only one who seemed to actually have any idea what had happened. "We had to duel, but it was actually the evil spirit from your Ring that I was dueling," the boy started, "but Marik said he was controlling you and the spirit and freed you from the control to try and make me forfeit our duel."

"Wha-?" Ryou was shaking in pain, "Di-, did you f-forfeit?"

"No." Yugi said looking down, "The spirit from you Millennium Ring stepped in at the last minute of our duel, he must have been afraid that I would have attacked you anyway…"

"B-but, why?"

A short pause hit the conversation and an eerie silence, broken only by Ryou's uneasy breathing, filled the room for a moment. "I, I am not sure, Ryou." Yugi admitted. "He must have feared that you would have been killed. If that happened, he would be without a link to the physical world."

"A host," Ryou wheezed, "you mean…" And with that the weakened teen fell into unconsciousness; transported into the depths of his mind, transported into the Millennium Ring itself.

Feeling the raging darkness – that made the deepest depths of the Ring its home – engulf his mind, body and soul, Ryou shuttered. Coming through his episode, the boy quickly sat up, shaking and filled with panic, "Wh-where am I?" He let out in a frightened whisper to himself.

Holding his arms as if in an embrace with himself, Ryou stood up and attempted to make out any objects or figures in the pitch blackness surrounding him. Straining his eyes for a moment he frowned realizing that he was trapped in this impenetrable darkness for the time being; however, this terror was interrupted once he noticed the pain that had riddled his body, at least last he recalled, had dissipated from his being.

Rubbing where his bandages around his arm had previously been he felt just his skin and the hem of his shirt. _'What is going on?' _Ryou thought to himself.

Just then a series of torches spontaneously burst into flames, a seemingly endless double-row of lights flooded the walls of an equally seemingly endless hallway.

"Ah." The teen gasped in awe as he watched each torch mysteriously light itself, set by set, down the wrapping corridor. "Not here, please no. Anywhere, but here…" He let out in a weary sigh, beginning to shake once more.

He stood there for a moment in the now-illuminated ancient, stone halls of the Millennium Ring's innards, wondering if he could simply remain where he was until he awoke. Unfortunately, as that thought crossed his mind, the lit torches nearest him began to extinguish themselves one set at a time – just as they had lit themselves, though much slower.

Ryou let out a sigh and took a step forward, _'Guess not…'_ he frowned as he meekly kept moving along with the vanishing lights – attempting to stay within the light and out of the chilling emptiness that seemed to accompany the silence of the darkness within the Ring.

Though he understood that the Ring was intentionally leading him somewhere, Ryou didn't know where or why… He didn't want to think of the possibilities to either. Having only been trapped within the ancient object once before he had the feeling that there was much about the mysticism behind its functions that he didn't understand and probably never would – especially given that it seemed to only allow him to do what it wanted him to do.

Continuing on down the infinite corridor, wrapping endlessly in a never changing, yet never ending, circle – which Ryou could only assume was the 'Ring' itself – he finally neared a door on the curved walls. He looked around cautiously and questioningly, was he meant to use this door or continue on?

"Only one way to find out, I guess." Ryou squirmed in place as he stood in front of the door, the lights continuing to extinguish – though he was a safe enough distance ahead of them to remain in the light. He reached out and turned the handle of the door and slowly pulled it open.

A surge of white light flooded the hallway from this mysterious room. Ryou had to shield his eyes from the intensity and surprise of it. Taking one last look up and down the corridor, he took a step into the room, gingerly.

The door ominously and quietly closed behind Ryou, who didn't bother to flinch at the anomaly as he recognized it as just another fact of the wretched Ring. He turned to face into the room that he had nervously entered. The room was sheer, pristine white. No features were discernible within it, no wall or ceiling fixtures, no furniture, no people. It was simply whiteness.

Ryou blinked. Either from still trying to adjust to the brightness of the room, or in a vain attempt to snap himself out of this… whatever this was.

Just then he felt as if he was suddenly being watched, being observed; more so than he had decided was probably the usual when one was within the Ring. He shifted uneasily to examine the area around him, though there was no sign of anyone or anything that could potentially be watching him. But then he heard frightened cries coming from somewhere deeper within this room within the Ring.

He nervously took a step farther into the room and the crying seemed to intensify, if only slightly. These tears sounded familiar to him and he began to lose any fear of the room as his curiosity and concern for the unseen individual, who was apparently crying, grew.

Carrying on through the white room, Ryou realized he wasn't sure if the room was a room or simply another hallway, it was just so white he couldn't tell what was wall, what was expanse or what was even there. For all he knew he could have been on the ceiling and been unaware of the fact.

The crying became louder and more audible and a figure far off in the distance came into the British teen's line of sight. He picked up his pace, slowly at first.

"Hello!" He called out to the tearful individual, "Are you okay?"

His concerns went unmet though as he neared the mystery person, his pace slowed and his heart beat quickened. Who was this…?

The person was in a crouching position with its knees pulled up to its chest, its face buried into its thighs and clearly sobbing.

"H-hello…?" He stammered out. "Are y-you hurt?"

"No." It sniffled in a childish voice.

Ryou paused for a moment, "Do you need help?"

"No." It sniffled once more.

"Are you lost?" Ryou began to feel a bit more at ease and knelt down in front of what seemed to be a small and frightened child.

This small, delicate creature had moderately long, blonde hair and was in what appeared to be blue pajamas with white clouds printed in a rather obvious and simple pattern. This had to be a child. But… Ryou shook his head slightly.

"No." It sniffled again.

"Why are you crying then, little fella'?" Ryou asked the tiny figure before him.

It sniffled, terrified.

"It's okay, you can talk to me." He smiled at the child even though they could not see each other's faces.

After a moment of more tear-clogged sniffling, the child finally answered Ryou's previous question. "I'm all alone… I think?"

"You think? Do you not remember?" Ryou asked more rhetorically than actually expecting an answer, "Anyway, you're not alone now, I am here with you." He smiled again at the child.

"No." It said pointedly.

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"I'm alone." It said, sounding to get a little offended.

"But-" Ryou started before the child interrupted him.

"No!" It growled out in a low and menacing voice.

Ryou was taken aback by the response and fell back on his rump.

"I am alone!" It shot its head up from its guarded, hiding position. This child was clearly a young boy and had very clearly been crying… Blood stained tear streaks ran down his cheeks. The boy stood up, standing viciously over the Ring's owner, who was still on the floor.

Ryou gasped. The boy's pajamas were torn with what appeared to be claw marks and his body was beaten and bloody, deep cuts and old scars covered his body. But that was not what set Ryou over the edge, what had done it was the fact that this child bore a striking resemblance to Ryou himself, no… This was Ryou.

"I am alone!" It growled one last time before raising a clawed hand, ready to strike.

The platinum blonde teens eyes grew wide with panic and fear for his life as he jolted himself up and made a mad dash for the white room's door, but where had it gone?! The fiendish powers of the Millennium Ring had either led or allowed its owner and supposed master to fall into what appeared to be a trap and seemed to show no interest in rescuing him from it.

"Fine!" Ryou screamed as he ran for his life, "Fine! Fine! You're alone!" His voice was filled with frightened panic as the beast-child version of himself raced after him with unnatural speed and ferocity. He saw the door, a small speck far off in the distance. The Ring was playing games, with the boy, he knew he hadn't come this far into the white room and yet he somehow had.

To the teen's astonishment, the child transformed into a tremendous snarling beast, as the two of them raced – one for the door and the other for the trespasser.

Finally, Ryou had reached the door and burst through it, back into the ancient main-corridor of the Millennium Ring. The hallway filled with the piercing white-light of the room once more and then, as Ryou slammed the door shut with all his might, the halls fell into empty darkness once more. The torches at the door had gone out and the boy was once again enveloped in shadow.

He clasped his thighs with his hands as he bent over, trying to catch his breath. Pressing his buttocks against the door into the white room he shook with adrenalin.

"W-why-y ah-am I h-ere…?" He stuttered out, still gasping for air after his race with one of the many monsters of the Millennium Ring. Finally beginning to catch his breath, Ryou stood up, leaning against the door, wearily, and mumbled, "Why do I even bother…" before kicking off and running down the endless hallway of darkness, attempting to catch back up with the lit torches that were, no doubt, far ahead of him now.

After running for what seemed like days – though in the wrapped reality of the Ring, was probably more like half an hour – Ryou finally came back into the light and, as chance, fate, dumb luck, what have you, would have it, another door. Though the boy couldn't help but wonder just how many doors he had passed on his run to catch back up with the torches…

_'Did I already pass the door the Ring wanted me to use…?'_ He thought, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, 'Lord I hope not…' He spoke his own response, as he pushed his way into the room behind this most recent door.

Once his eyes had adjusted to the bright surge of light again, he sighed. It was the academy. He was back at the academy – or at least a replica of the academy the Ring had made from his memories. While this illusion may have fooled the boy the first time he had entered the Ring where it presented to him, he wasn't as easily deceived as he may have once been. He had grown only a little wiser as to the nature of the Millennium items, with Yugi and his Puzzle's help, but he was well aware of the trickery and malice that lurked within his own item.

He frowned as he walked into the Ring's mirage and saw his schoolmates and teachers excitedly leaving the grounds for the day. It was always a happy occasion for everyone in the real world. Though Ryou had a feeling as to where he was meant to go during this, Millennium Ring-induced, trip down memory lane.

He moved through the crowded campus and the empty halls of the Academy like a phantom, unseen by these particular figments of the Ring's construct. The lanky teen could only imagine that the Ring wanted him to experience this rather than participate.

Once he had arrived at where he imagined was his destination he peered into his classroom, there he was, well not he personally, but the Ryou the Ring had created to live within this room, sitting alone at his desk, working on homework with a kick-me sign taped to his back.

The real Ryou shuttered as he felt a group of people scatter through his spectral form and into the classroom. It was Yugi, Tristan, Joey and Téa. He blinked, following them into the classroom, curious as to what memory this could possibly be.

"Come on Ryou!" Téa said cheerfully, "Class is over!"

"Yeah, haven't you done enough studying for today?" Yugi asked with a wide smile.

"I can't leave just yet, guys." The Ring's duplicate Ryou answered, "I've got too much going on to just up and leave."

"What exactly is going on?" Joey asked.

The real Ryou crept into the room, closer to the group – wondering what exactly the other him in this room was doing.

"It's very important stuff." He answered.

"What could be more important that enjoyed such a nice day?" Tristan asked, opening one of the classroom's windows. A cool breeze blew into the room.

Ryou did not recall any of this ever happening. This couldn't have been a memory… Then what was it? And why was the Ring showing him?

"You'll see soon enough." The Ryou-clone said with a smile as he went to return to his project before him.

"Suit yourself." Tristan responded.

The British teen neared his doppelganger and peered over his shoulder. He gasped. This definitely wasn't a memory – at least not one of his own.

Before the Ring's construct, on the school desk, in his notebook, was an intricate and detailed diagram of how he was planning to murder his friends… Yugi, Téa, Tristan and Joey…

Just then the room shifted and altered around him, Ryou became dizzy from the sudden blur of colors and came back to the Academy-based room the Ring had made with a wave of nausea.

He held his head meekly, but felt something off; he removed his hands from his temples and gazed at them. They were covered in blood. Ryou looked out before him, the classroom's walls were smeared with bloody handprints and Egyptian hieroglyphs written in blood were all over the room. And at his feet… at the boys feet were his friends' mangled and mutilated corpses.

Ryou gasped and began to shake uncontrollably. He fell to his hands and knees, glazed over and lifeless eyes all around him watching his every move.

"W-what h-h-ave I d-done…?" He stammered out, examining his bloodied hands.

A quiet gurgling came from one of the bodies, feet away from him. He looked up, horrified to see Yugi raising a hand for aid and crawling weakly toward him.

"H-help m-" He let out just before he collapsed into a puddle of blood beneath him.

Ryou's eyes were wide with fear. He felt like he were about to throw up.

"I…" He started, "I didn't, I didn't do this… I didn't…"

"You did this." A voice gargled through the air from an unknown source.

The frightened boy stood up and backed himself against the wall; feeling the now-cool blood pressing against his backside, he knew that he himself had smeared it all around the room moments earlier.

"I-it wasn't me… I-it was an accident, I- I didn't mean to…" He was shaking uncontrollably, terrified so much that he had truly done this.

_'I-is this real life…?'_ He thought to himself in terror.

Just then the bodies of his friends began to rise from their bloody bath.

"You did this." Téa gurgled out from her slit throat, blood spilling from her mouth.

"I- I di-" Ryou started to stutter out before he was interrupted.

"Why did you do this to us?" Joey asked hopping on one leg, carrying the other and his arm in the crook of his other arm.

"B-but, I d-d-didn't." The teen shook his head, attempting to erase the images and self-doubt from his mind.

"You did this to us." Tristan bubbled out as blood dripped from his head, dangling from a broken neck.

"I d-didn't…"

"Why do you hate us?" Yugi asked moaning as he dragged himself across the floor, his lower body completely missing.

"I d-don't, I love you g-guys." He pleaded, tears now streaming from his eyes. "P-p-please, st-stop this…" He fell to his knees in the corner of the classroom, unable to stand any longer; his dismembered and undead friends slowly nearing him, repeating their haunting and torturous mantras over and over again.

"Please, stop!" He let out in a sobbing shout, demanding that the Ring end this, whatever this was.

Just then, the room was quiet once more. Ryou looked up; tears and fright had stained his cheeks red and wet. Removing his hands from clutching the sides of his head from trying to cover his ears and prevent the seething lies from hurting him too deeply, he glanced around the room nervously. It looked as though it did before that horrifying episode.

Then the duplicate Ryou formed from thin air at his desk and the door swung open.

"Come on Ryou!" Téa said cheerfully, "Class is over!"

"Yeah, haven't you done enough studying for today?" Yugi asked with a wide smile.

"Oh no." The real Ryou said getting up quickly, "Not again." He said to himself as he quickly ran out of the classroom, out of the Academy and out of the Ring's room.

Slamming the door shut behind him, he wiped the tears from his cheeks that had begun to pour out once more as he was leaving the Room, hearing his friends' screams for mercy from within the Academy.

The hall of the main-corridor was dark once more, causing the boy to let out an uneasy sigh.

"The next door I come to in the light better be where you want me to be or I'm sitting in the buggery dark!" He shouted down the dark hallway he once again found himself in.

After taking a moment to collect himself, Ryou once more set off at a run. Running toward where the lights would most likely be in the never ending circular hallway of the Millennium Ring.

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_Notes: Well this was freaky. What a way to start a fic, right? _

_-I hope at least some of you enjoyed it and I hope you will follow it to show your love and support. _

_-This is my third fan fiction I've started (though none of them are completed yet), so I'll have quite a bit to work on and this just sort of came to me so I wanted to get it down on paper. _

_-I work every day until next Tuesday so I can't guarantee anything new for any of my stories, unfortunately. I hope you'll all forgive me!_

_-Reviews, follows, favorites, etc., are all very much appreciated and pretty much motivate me to write more ;)_

_-Leave your thoughts and suggestions in either a review or a personal message to me, if you so choose! I look forward to hearing from anyone and everyone ^_^_


	2. Chapter 2

_Summary of Chapter One:_ _Taking off shortly after Yugi's duel with Yami Bakura/Bakura in the Battle City Arc of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime – Season Two, Episodes 33-36, I believe – Yugi informs Ryou that the spirit within his Millennium Ring saved him at the end of their duel. All of the commotion of how he became so badly hurt, where he was and how he got there as well as why the evil spirit inside his Ring had saved him sent Ryou into mental overload. So in addition to being physically wounded and drained, this sent the poor boy into a catatonic state during which his mind/soul was sent into the Millennium Ring, by the Ring itself. Why? That is still unknown, but we do know two things. That the Ring seems to have a will and mind of its own that may or may not be separate from Yami Bakura and whatever is in control of the Ring's inner workings and darker magic is seriously twisted. _

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**Chapter Two**

It felt like hours had passed, though in the warped reality of the Millennium Ring in was more than likely Ryou had only been running for ten minutes top; however, that didn't change the fact that by the time he had reached the lit torches once more he was exhausted. Mentally, the Ring seemed to have a tendency of draining those that entered it – at least that was true for Ryou and he imagined anyone.

_'Maybe that's why the other's seem to think the spirit in the Ring is always so bad, maybe it's because he's always so tired and cranky?'_ The boy thought to himself as he wondered whether or not a spirit could become mentally or physically drained – in the real world or within the Ring.

Taking only a few moments to catch his breath, the sliver haired teen began walking through the now-lit, ancient hallway of the Millennium Ring, examining the walls for any semblance of a door. Despite the last two doors being actual and obvious doors, he recalled the last demand of the Ring he had made, _'The next door I come to in the light better be where you want me to be or I'm sitting in the buggery dark!'_ Ryou didn't put it past the Ring to make the door as inconspicuous as possible.

Running his hands along the wall that the doors had all previously been on, the British teen continually examined every inch and minute detail contained on each wall of the winding corridor.

Eventually, after again what seemed like hours, Ryou found a door; it was a door like any other he had come across while within the mysterious Millennium item. Examining the door, once he had arrived to face it, he ran his fingers along the detailed and intricate carvings in the stone of it and its frame.

Ryou wondered what had possessed him to stop and admire these strange Egyptian symbols he didn't have the knowledge to decipher. He frowned and furrowed his brow, trying to remember if the other two doors he had seen this trip into the Ring had shared these same symbols or if they even had hieroglyphs to begin with.

_'I really hope this is the right door…'_ He thought nervously as he finally built up the courage to pull on the handle into the room.

A surge of white-light eradiated from the now open door and into the hallway as Ryou was forced to shield his eyes.

Once he was in the room the door closed behind him and the brightness of the room had dissipated completely. Ryou was standing in darkness – a darkness he didn't even think was possible after being in the shadows of the main corridor of the Ring.

He shuttered against the cold darkness.

"Hello?" The platinum blonde said meekly into the room, though there was no response.

_'God, I hope I'm supposed to be here…'_ He thought to himself.

"Hello?" He said a bit louder this time, cupping his hands around his lips. This time he was responded to with a series of echoes. Though these echoes were not his own…

The disturbing magic of the Millennium Ring mutated the boys timid tones into a cacophony of low growls, high screeches, maniacal laughs, tortured moans and all sordid manner of things in between – all repeating the same greeting in a twisted and malicious way. "Hello. Hello. Hello."

"I guess that answers that question…" Ryou muttered to himself as he dropped his head and shuttered at the unwelcoming welcome.

Just then he began to hear faint mews. Raising his head with a start, his eyes wide with surprise, he saw a few circular lights shining from an unknown source where the ceiling of a normal place would be – in the middle of the light closest the teen was a single black cat, grooming it's left paw.

Ryou smiled lightly at the sight, he had always held a special place for cats in his mind, but then he remembered where he was…

"Hello." He said blankly to the cat, half expecting it to answer him; though it simply looked up from its grooming at the boy.

"Am I supposed to be here?" Ryou continued.

The cat got up from its sitting position at the center of the light and began to walk away, into the next circle of light shining down from the would-be ceiling.

"Am I supposed to follow you?" The pale, silver haired boy asked as the gap between he and the cat grew slightly. The cat simply flicked its tail, which Ryou took to be a yes.

Shrugging, he took cautious steps forward into the room and under the first circular light.

Despite there being a somewhat significant gap between each circular light, the black cat seemed to jump from the end of one light to the beginning of the next, completely skipping past the blackness between. Ryou found this odd only for a moment; it was the Millennium Ring, after all, and weirder things had happened there.

After a few lights into the dark expanse of whatever 'room' the Ring decided this would serve as this time, Ryou found himself having to quicken his pace to keep the black cat in his line of sight. The gap between each light seemed to get greater and greater and of course Ryou could not simply transport to the next light as the cat appeared to do.

"Hey!" Ryou shouted after the cat, beginning to run, "Wait I can't keep up!"

The cat turned to gaze at the boy over its shoulder for only a moment before continuing out of the last light and into the darkness – or wherever the cat disappeared to.

Frowning, Ryou continued on at a slow and sluggish pace, figuring he no longer had a reason to run after the vanished creature of the Ring's creation. After a while, once he had reached the end of the long trail of lit circles, he stood at the center of the last beam of light. Looking around into the darkness surrounding him he realized that the lights he had already passed through were gone… He was trapped far into this dark and damned place.

"Ugh, what now…" He muttered to himself under his breath.

"Meow." The cat sounded from within the darkness, echoing all around the teen.

He jumped and twisted around to see where the sound was coming from, but it was no use; the echoes completely threw his sense of hearing off.

"Meow." The creature let out once more; though this time there was no echo, well not counting the remaining echoes from the animal's first utterance.

Ryou twisted around on his heels, slightly afraid of what the beast could be or turn into at any minute.

The cat was sitting at the edge of the last lit light where Ryou was standing nervously. "Hello." He wiggled his fingers in a greeting to the cat before him.

It tilted its head slightly to the left in reply, flicking it tail from side to side slightly.

A few moments of this awkward and intensely silent staring contest passed.

"So what now?" Ryou asked.

"Meow."

"I mean where am I? Er, we? Are we going somewhere else?"

The black cat rose from its sitting position and turned to exit the beam of light once more.

Ryou sighed but didn't speak. Once the cat had exited the light, he took a few steps forward himself, closing his eyes, unsure of what he would find on the other side – if anything – he crossed the border beyond the ray of light.

Opening his eyes, timidly, Ryou saw that he was in a new room entirely. The walls and floor we stone just like the main corridor and there were lit torches spaced evenly out across the walls at a height just above eye level. A bit of a distance away the teen could make out what looked like a person lying on the ground; the black cat sitting beside the individual, flicking its tail as usual.

Ryou blinked nervously as he examined the peculiar sight, taking the first steps on his journey toward the two inhabitants of this section of the Millennium Ring.

As he got closer to where the cat and the other person were he shuttered as if a cold breeze had just blown over him. This unknown individual looked eerily similar to Ryou, himself; though that wasn't much to go off of considering the multitude of Ryou 'copies' the Ring seemed to make for its twisted experiments or demonstrations or whatever one wanted to refer to them as.

The British teen got closer yet and realized the person at the center of the room was unconscious, or sleeping… He got a nervous shiver and felt a strong urge to leave the room; glancing around him he saw no doors and began to panic slightly.

"Fear not, Bearer." A light and airy voice echoed from all directions within the ancient, stone room.

Ryou jumped and looked around the room quickly. "W-who is that?" He called out.

"I have no name," the feminine voice echoed over the last fading echoes of its first statement. "but am known by many."

_'Riddles…?'_ Ryou thought. "Is there one that I would know?" He asked meekly.

"Meow." The cat mewed from a distance away, still beside the Ryou-lookalike.

"Wait, you're the cat?"

"No," the sweet voice echoed all around the boy, "the cat is me." It corrected.

"Is there a difference?" Ryou wondered genuinely though there was no answer. "Why am I here?"

"Your body struggles."

"How so?"

"After the abuse you suffered at the hands of this one," the cat glanced over at the individual lying unconscious beside it, 'and the other Bearer, you're too weak to remain in the physical world. So I called you here."

"You mean you kidnapped me…" Ryou muttered under the echoes around him. "And this one? Who is _that_ one?"

"This is the spirit I have claimed, but that is beside the point. You sought refuge just as you have before and I admitted you." The voice corrected tenderly.

Ryou sighed, unwilling to continue the inquiry regarding the spirit the voice spoke of. "I still don't understand what you are."

"I am next to nothing and yet I am everything."

"Why so many riddles?" Ryou asked with agitation growing in his voice.

"You used to like my riddles."

"What are you talking about?" The pale boy snapped. "You're not making any sense."

"Meow."

"Ugh." Ryou threw his hands up in the air in defeat.

"Your body needed time to recover from the transgressions made against it; your mind was in the way and wanted a place to retreat to." The voice echoed softly throughout the room, ringing in Ryou's ears.

"So I am in the Millennium Ring?"

"Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answers?"

The boy's eyes narrowed on the cat, which was licking its paw once more. Letting his annoyance drop long enough to contemplate the new information that he was being presented, he responded, "So you're saying _that_ one is the spirit in the Ring? That must mean _you're _the Ring…?"

A moment passed as the cat continued to lick its paws.

"This one would perhaps argue that I am simply here and that he is in fact the Ring. It has been a long and gruesome three centuries for him and they have warped his mind." The tender voice sounded all around the room, sounding remorseful for the spirit.

"Do you know what he's put me through?"

"Do you know what he's prevented you from going through?"

Ryou scoffed, "I don't really want to talk about this."

A few moments passed befor a response was made. "As I said, you have nothing to fear, Bearer."

Then the cat got up and brushed against the spirit, before vanishing into thin air.

The individual across the room gasped for air as if coming up from a deep depth of the ocean. His resounds of anguish pierced through the ancient stone chamber of the Ring, writhing around on the floor in pain. The spirit grasped and clutched at his body as if he had been put through the worst form of torture.

Ryou jumped and took a step back, not sure what to do or say or even if he should. He glanced around the room, nervously searching for a door, a door that would lead him out of there, to anywhere but there – the spirit in the Ring was a bad person to meet even on a good day, according to his friends in the real world.

While the teen didn't have any type of medical training, he could tell that the spirit was beginning to hyperventilate from breathing so rapidly in his state of panicked pain.

Ryou timidly and quietly approached the spirit lying on the ground and knelt down beside him. He was shaking and holding himself while coughing up blood. _'What on Earth did Yugi and his Puzzle's spirit do to him…?' _ The boy wondered in a terrified manner.

"A-are you o-okay…?" He asked sounding pretty frightened.

The spirit didn't answer, just shook against the floor as if having a seizure.

The young teen pulled his handkerchief out from his back pocket and wiped the blood from the spirit's mouth and used his sleeve to wipe the sweat forming on his forehead. Ryou began to get teary eyed. Whether or not it was due to the striking resemblance he shared with the afflicted individual or the realization that were his Millennium Ring's spirit not to have swapped him places during his duel with Yugi, this could have been him. No, he would have been dead; Ryou shuttered, _'There's no way I would have survived something like this… The spirit might not even live…'_ He thought to himself, frowning.

As the spirit began to shake more violently, Ryou's expression of fright grew on his face. He had no idea what to do, but reacted as only he knew how; the pale teen pulled the alternate version of himself into his arms and held him tightly in his embrace in an attempt to soothe his overloaded mind and comfort his taxed body.

"Wha-" The spirit sounded in confusion though unable to complete his question out of exhaustion and pain.

"Sh, we'll talk when you're better…" Ryou instructed. _'I have a lot to get sorted with you…'_ He thought to himself sternly.

* * *

Time wasn't something the Ring seemed to trouble itself with because when Ryou awoke after falling asleep with the spirit in his arms he had absolutely no idea how long it had been. There were no clocks, no sundials, no windows, nothing – not even a 'sense of time' – there was simply no way to tell the time.

Upon awaking, the teen sat up, rubbing his back where he had slept awkwardly on the cold stone floor for who knows how long. The spirit wasn't beside him where the boy last knew him to be, so he looked around the dimly lit room for him.

Nothing.

"Hello?" He let out meekly.

"What are _you_ doing here?" A low, menacing voice growled.

"What are _you _doing here?" Ryou asked trying to sound cool and natural.

"I live here." The voice, the teen could only imagine belonged to the spirit, snapped. "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh, I'm sorry, I don't really know…" The boy admitted, scanning the area for any sign of the spirit while also examining his reported home – not much to look at…

There was no answer.

"You, uh seemed pretty poor off last I-" Ryou started before being cut off.

"Get out."

The silver haired teen blinked, taken aback by the lack of hospitality; then he remembered where he was and who he was supposedly talking to. "Trust me, I would very much like to; alas, I don't know the way out."

"Just wake up." The voice snapped, clearly agitated more than usual at this point. "Pull yourself out of here and back to the real world. Get out."

"You think I'm here by choice?" Ryou said in disbelief, restraining a sarcastic laugh.

"I don't care why you're here, get out."

"I already told you, I can't."

"The Bearer is here by my doing." The same feminine and motherly voice from before cooed.

The spirit moved out of the shadows, smirking, "you mean the Host."

"He is unwell in the physical realm because of your doings and he will remain here until his body is well enough for him to retake it."

"Then I will leave."

"As you've no doubt already tried, you know that is impossible, at the moment." The tender voice informed in a somewhat gloating manner.

The three remained silent for a bit. Ryou awkwardly staring toward the spirit and quickly looking away each time the spirit looked toward him.

"I think it's gone." Ryou finally whispered across the room referring to the mysterious voice.

The spirit scowled and stalked off into the shadows.

"Wait!" Ryou called out after him. "I don't understand what is going on at all!" He pleaded. "Please don't go…" He muttered sadly.

"Leave me alone." The spirit's voice sounded from the shadows.

Ryou simply stood there, in the center of the room, speechless. He shrank down into a kneeling position and just sat there, unsure of how to feel about this or what to do or say…

"But I don't want to be alone, I'm always alone…" He whispered to himself.

* * *

_Notes: I'm not really sure what to say about it, I'm just writing it. But you're thoughts, comments, questions, concerns, suggestions, etc., are always welcome. _

_-If you recall, I said this would contain some thiefshipping but I would like to say now that that will probably be quite a while away, though I hope if you're reading this for that you'll continue with me, anyway :)_

_-I don't think I have anything of major importance to say… Other than a quick shout out, I hope it's okay I'm doing this but Dlbn's own fanfic, 'Lollipops and Chainsaws', is sooooo freaking good 3 I'm addicted to it hehe_


	3. Chapter 3

_Summary of Chapter Two: Ryou finally found the room that the Ring wanted him to get to and, oddly enough, he met a creature that claims to be the Ring itself :O He also met a sick and practically dying and then brooding/meanie head spirit within the Ring (Yami Bakura, which I will start referring to as Bakura once we get into this chapter ;) )_

* * *

**Chapter Three**

"He chose to save you." A tender, feminine voice echoed throughout the stone room that was apparently the Ring's soul chamber. "Or rather, he chose for me to save you, I suppose."

"What in bloody hell are you blathering about?" Bakura snapped at the black cat licking its paws beside his host.

"Do you not recall your duel with the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle? You nearly died – you would have died were it not for the Bearer's intervention in comforting you in your unbearable pain and treating your un-healing wounds. You would have died and I would have allowed it."

"You would not." He sneered at the cat's supposed bluff.

"I would," the voice vibrated through the room, "I grow tired of you and the needless risks you place us all in."

Bakura glanced around the room nervously as it shook like the Ring was enduring some unnatural earthquake. "Needless?!" He hissed at the cat.

"Indeed. I understand your determination to collect the Millennium Items, it is why I selected you for my first Bearer, after all, but, I grow weary of constantly finding the three of us in deplorable conditions."

"The three of us?!" He snapped, "You've got to be kidding me!"

"The Bearer ends up broken and bleeding in a hospital bed more often than not, his friends barely trust him any longer due to your… skilled acting, the Ring is lost by _you_ at least twice every lunar cycle, you constantly seek my magic out and it ultimately gets us all nowhere. I am quickly losing my patience with you, _spirit_."

"Don't call me that." He growled lowly to which the black cat hissed and arched its back.

"I will call you what you are!" The voice lost its tender, motherliness in favor of foul and demonic voices twisting together within their own echoes. As the frightening echoes faded and the soul chamber stopped shaking violently the soft tones of the earlier voice returned, "Whether you like it or not, you are no longer the Bearer," she paused for a moment, "you are a parasite to both the current Bearer and myself."

Bakura winced at the accusation of being a parasite, "That pathetic fool will never survive in the real world without us and you know it!" He sneered, "Without me he would be all alone and without you he would be powerless and afraid! Without us he is nothing!" He paused for a moment to regain a fraction of his composure. "I am the one that will unite the Millennium Items, not that useless mortal." He spat out pointing to the sleeping Ryou at the center of the soul chamber.

The demonic voices returned to speak on the Ring's behalf once more, "He is the Bearer! Not some play thing for you to use and abuse and throw away when you're done!"

"At least I don't share my toys," Bakura smirked, "I always come back to him."

"Your insolence has gone far enough, _spirit_." The voices churned in the room as Bakura was hit with a wave of pain.

He dropped to the cold stone floor and was writhing in pain; his body twisting and contorting into unnatural shapes against the torture the Ring was putting him through.

"Fail me again and you will no longer be welcome here." The voices informed.

"Urgh, k-k-kiss-ss, argh, my- ah! Ass!" Bakura retorted as the pain increased until he blacked out against the hard, stone floor.

* * *

Bakura saw his teenage host stirring from the center of the room. He was watching from deep within the shadows of edges of his soul chamber.

"H-hello?" The teen wearily let out.

_'Pathetic.' _Bakura winced against the creature before him. "What are _you_ doing here?" He snapped in a low and menacing voice.

"What are _you _doing here?" Ryou asked trying to sound cool and natural.

He rolled his eyes, "I live here." He growled, "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh, I'm sorry, I don't really know…" The boy admitted, scanning the area for any sign of the spirit while also examining his reported home – not much to look at…

There was no answer.

"You, uh seemed pretty poor off last I-" Ryou started before being cut off.

"Get out."

"Trust me, I would very much like to; alas, I don't know the way out."

_'This fool is hopeless!'_ Bakura thought to himself. "Just wake up. Pull yourself out of here and back to the real world. Get. Out." He commanded.

"You think I'm here by choice?" Ryou said in disbelief.

"I don't care why you're here, get out."

"I already told you, I can't."

"The Bearer is here by my doing." The same feminine and motherly voice from before cooed.

Bakura moved out of the shadows, smirking, "You mean the Host."

"He is unwell in the physical realm because of your doings and he will remain here until his body is well enough for him to retake it."

"Then I will leave."

"As you've no doubt already tried, you know that is impossible, at the moment." The tender voice informed in a somewhat gloating manner.

The room went silent as the Ring addressed Bakura directly and mentally.

_"You will address the Bearer with the dignity and respect he deserves; he is a guest within the Ring." _The voice spoke to Bakura telepathically.

_"Yeah right, just like the 'dignity and respect' you show 'guests' that find themselves in the unlucky position of being inside the Ring… Don't make me fucking laugh." _Bakura responded. 

Just then Bakura was struck with an announced jolt of pain, like he had stuck a metal knife into an electrical outlet. He jumped slightly, his gaze jerking toward Ryou who quickly looked away from him. Once he had recovered from the shock, Bakura rolled his eyes at the ridiculously hypocritical Ring and the cowardly _Bearer_.

"I think it's gone." Ryou finally whispered across the room referring to the mysterious voice.

_"You will do as I say or I will put you through the pain of the God Card once more, I have your memories, I know what it was like – I can do it."_ The collection of twisted and demonic voices spoke directly into Bakura's mind before fading out of the room completely.

The spirit scowled and stalked off into the shadows without even glancing toward the shaking teen at the center of the room.

"Wait!" Ryou called out after him. "I don't understand what is going on at all!" He pleaded. "Please don't go…" He muttered sadly.

"Leave me alone." The spirit's voice sounded from the shadows.

Ryou simply stood there, in the center of the room, speechless. He shrank down into a kneeling position and just sat there, unsure of how to feel about this or what to do or say…

"But I don't want to be alone, I'm always alone…" He whispered to himself.

"You think _you're always alone_?" Bakura snapped back from the concealing shadows of the soul chamber. "You are never alone." He was clearly agitated.

Ryou looked up from his bent knees underneath him. "But… You, it's your fault I'm always alone! My friends can barely look at me half the time because of the things you do to them… to me…" He mumbled the last bit.

"Ha!" He scoffed, "You're pathetic and stupid!"

"Wha- What?!" Ryou demanded, seeming to lose his patience.

"Ah, so maybe you're not _as_ pathetic as you appear upon first glance." Bakura sneered, "And second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth-"

"Shut up!" Ryou snapped folding his arms, "Just leave me alone if you're going to be a prick."

This outburst caused Bakura to burst into maniacal laughter which startled the teen.

"Alright, you've piqued my curiosity. If can continue to entertain me, I _won't_ leave you, yet…" He said as he returned from the shadows to the dimly lit area of the room.

"Uh, okay…" Ryou let out uneasily after he quickly got to his feet. It was eerie seeing someone that looked so familiar to himself yet so different… "Uhm, how did I get here?"

"Ah, ah, ah." The darker figure wagged a finger in the boy's direction, a wicked smirk stretching across his face as he neared the teen. "Sit." He instructed, "I have a few… rules, before we get into whatever it is you think I'm planning on indulging you in. A couple of quid pro quos, if you will."

"Huh?" Ryou responded as he warily took a seat.

"I thought you were supposed to be intelligent?" Bakura frowned in irritation.

"I know what quid pro quo means," Ryou rolled his eyes, "I mean, what are your terms?"

The taller version of the two laughed heartily and then conjured up two seats made of shadow out of thin air. "You'll just have to play the game to discover my rules." He smirked.

"That's not how games usually work."

Bakura took a seat and gestured for his host to take the one opposite him.

Eyeing the seat of swirling shadows uneasily, Ryou shook his head, "No thanks, I'm good here…"

The spirit rolled his eyes and proceeded to transform the seat into something more like an armchair from the real world to which Ryou quickly brightened up.

As the teen took a seat in the squishy floral-print armchair, Bakura smirked at him. "Anyway, I don't really care how _you_ play games; the way _I_ play games is my own way."

"You mean you make it up as you go along…" Ryou muttered.

Bakura balled his fists and spoke through gritted teeth, "Your mumbling is growing tiresome." He chided.

Ryou flushed uneasily, shrinking into his seat. "O-okay… So what do we do then? How do we start your game…?" He asked meekly.

"Hm." He let out a thoughtful hum as he tapped his chin mockingly. "You've already asked your question, so I suppose I'll answer it."

"What then?"

"I haven't decided yet." He smirked.

"I'm not sure that's fair… But I guess you don't care…"

"You've guessed correctly."

"Alright, whatever, my question was how I got here?" Ryou reiterated, "And don't lie, if you lie I'm declaring the game null and void."

"Did I say you get to make up rules?" Bakura snapped.

"We're both stuck here, so unless you want to go off sulking in the dark we'll do this, at least to a degree, my way as well as yours." Ryou said sternly.

"I'll allow it, but not because you think you're hot shit." Bakura sneered, "I have my own motives for this rule."

"Fine, answer my question then."

"The answer to your question, in all honesty, is not one I have." He said with a smug grin on his face.

"That's a lie." Ryou let out in a sing-songy way.

The spirit narrowed his eyes on the teen in front of him for a moment as if trying to read his wide smile as a bluff. After a few moments, he caved, "Ugh, fine, you're here because you're so physically frail and weak you can't deal with the trauma of a God Card's attack." He smirked.

"That's not re-" He started before Bakura cut him off.

"Nope. Now I'll ask a question." He sneered, "Why are you so pathetic?"

"I think that's more your subjective opinion than an actual question…" He rolled his eyes attempting to keep up his hard-ass charade to 'entertain' the spirit of the Ring.

"If you don't answer my question, you'll forfeit and I'll send your soul to the shadow realm."

"Hm, so does that mean that if you end up forfeiting you'll have to go to the shadow realm?"

"It's not your turn to ask a question." Bakura tsked.

"You're really annoying."

"Answer the question, damn it." Bakura ordered, his patience wearing thin.

"Why am I so pathetic? Well it probably has something to do with my father dying when I was super young, my mother not loving me, my bloody friends not trusting me and probably not even really liking me and, most importantly, because I've got a bloody buggery cursed artifact that holds a limey bastard of a spirit that likes to possess me from time to time and get me into trouble that I can't get out of with my dignity or sanity!" Ryou snapped, shooting up from his seat and jabbing an accusing finger into Bakura's chest. Once he realized what he was saying and doing, he quickly flushed and retreated to his floral armchair in nervous embarrassment.

After a moment of awkward silence, Bakura sat up a bit in his chair, "Feisty." He sneered at the boy who was now trying to hide behind his long silvery hair.

"I, I'm sorry I snapped at you…" Ryou said meekly.

"Don't apologize." Bakura frowned in irritation, "You're reverting back to pathetic-ness."

Ryou looked up at Bakura who was nonchalantly examining his nail beds.

"Do I get to ask a question now?" He asked timidly.

"I don't know; I'm losing interest in this." The spirit responded truthfully while he continued to gaze thoughtfully at his hands.

"What would you rather do…?"

Bakura looked up and turned his gaze toward Ryou, "I'd rather not be here at all – though I imagine the same is true for you."

"No, not really… But don't you live here?"

"Yes… What the fuck does that have to do with anything?" Bakura snapped.

"I mean, like… Uh-"

"Damn it! Just spit it out already!" He clenched his hands around the arms of his shadowing armchair.

"Why wouldn't you like being in your home?!" Ryou shouted, unnerved by the spirit's mood swing.

Bakura flung his hands up into the air and twisted himself around in the chair examining the room around them. "Would you fucking want to live here?! I sure as shit don't!"

Ryou flinched back into his seat at the sudden movements from Bakura; who, upon noticing the wince, began to laugh.

"You are pathetic." He boomed.

"Will you stop calling me names?" Ryou let out in exasperation, "It's really driving me up a wall." He frowned.

Raising an eyebrow at the teen, Bakura once more began to laugh. "I'll do whatever I want, fool."

Ryou then began to cry lightly, attempting to hide it as best he could.

He muttered to himself, "I just want to go home…"

"Well you can't." Bakura sneered, "And you wanna know why?" He whispered, leaning in toward the boy's face.

The silverette blinked uneasily and nodded slightly. The spirit neared, mere inches away from his host's ear he began to whisper, "We'll never go home. We're both going to live out the rest of our shitty lives together because this gods' damn bloody Millennium Ring has trapped us both in here. Yeah, you'll get better in the physical realm and she'll let you back there, but it won't change anything. I'll continue to harass and use you and she'll continue to abuse me in here then when you die in the real world she'll get rid of me and you'll take my place, we're both fucking screwed." He leaned away and too his seat once more.

Ryou was shaking due to the close proximity of the spirit and the unnerving chill of his breath brushing against his ear. He turned to examine the spirit, gazing at Bakura's face, stoic and unrelenting; Ryou could tell he was being serious…

"I want us both to go home." He squeaked out weakly.

"This is my home." He said hollowly.

"Can you remember where you lived before you got the Ring?" Ryou asked quietly.

"I'm tired of this game." Bakura said as he got up from the shadow chair and made his way for the soul chamber's shadowy outskirts.

"I wasn't playing the game…" Ryou said more to himself than to the actual spirit.

Just then the seats Bakura had summoned into existence earlier vanished and Ryou fell onto his rear with a faint yelp followed by him getting up and rubbing his sore posterior.

* * *

_Notes: For some reason I really struggle with thinking of notes for this story… I'm just sort of writing it, but if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please let me know! I don't really have much of a plan for it._

_-The only real note I have is that this may end up becoming a tendershipping story only, as opposed to that and thiefshipping – not really sure yet… But either way, I've got another story I'm trying to think up ideas for that would be primarily thiefshipping with probably some minor ships thrown in._

_-Yup, reviews, follows, favorites, etc. are all very much appreciated! They all motivate me :)_

_-Byesssss xoxoxoxo_


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